After spending a season watching KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Malcolm Simmons and Cam Coleman catch passes for the Tigers, Auburn football fans are hungry for more playmaking from the wide receivers.
Though Lambert-Smith will be working to make it at the next level, the Tigers return all of the Freeze Four receivers and added a pair of pass catchers— Eric Singleton Jr. and Horatio Fields— from the transfer portal.
Singleton's speed has already set him apart from the others in his position group, but wide receivers coach Marcus Davis believes Fields' experience and mentality towards the game will make him the perfect role model to step into Lambert-Smith's leadership role from last season.
The transfers are fitting right into the group, and the younger guys like Coleman and Simmons are now working with a full season of experience under their belts and are becoming more impactful on the field. All the ingredients for a successful wide receiver room are there, leading to a slightly worrying statement from Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze.
"They better make plays," he said, per Auburn Undercover. "If that room doesn't have success, we won't have success. It's one of the more talented rooms I've ever been associated with. Somebody asked me the other day how I would rank that room versus DK Metcalf, AJ Brown, Van Jefferson, Evan Engram. I think it's a bit early for me to put all of that on them, but it rivals it. It's close.
"Even Malcolm and Perry, just a second year in the same system, with the same terminology, doing the same things, you see them now catching on. There were still times last year where Payton was ready for Malcolm or Perry to do this -- and may not get exactly done. But now you see them executing at a better level. We are very much dependent on that room having success."
It's a lot of pressure to put on one position group, but heading into year three, it will be critical for Hugh Freeze to find a higher level of success on the Plains. After two losing seasons, the Tigers must start adding wins for Freeze to stay out of the hot seat.